Little action on gender balance

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Both sides of politics yesterday made much of promoting women to
key frontbench positions, but in terms of numbers not a lot has
changed.

Prime Minister John Howard said his fourth ministry included the
largest number of women in cabinet since Federation. While that's
true, the number has not changed since his last reshuffle earlier
this year.

There are six, with Amanda Vanstone, Helen Coonan and Kay
Patterson in the cabinet, and Julie Bishop, De-Anne Kelly and Fran
Bailey in the ministry.

The only minister sacked was a woman, Danna Vale, who lost her
veterans' affairs portfolio.

Opposition Leader Mark Latham said the appointment of new women
into the shadow ministry was part of building the party for the
future.

"I want them to play a leading role in the future of the
Australian Labor Party, starting with a very prominent role in our
shadow cabinet," he said.

That sounds grand but the number of women on Labor's front bench
is up by only one. Tanya Plibersek, Penny Wong and Jan McLucas
replace two women who are leaving and increase female
representation from six to seven.

One area where female representation has risen significantly is
the public service, where the number of women heading a department
or the equivalent has gone from two to six.

"They've all been promoted on merit," Mr Howard said. "We don't
have quotas, we don't believe in them."

He defended his decision to move the Office of the Status of
Women from his department to the Department of Community
Services.

Tokenism was unnecessary, Mr Howard said.

"I just think you promote people on ability and in the natural
order of events more and more women get promoted because they're
just as able as men."

But Elizabeth Reid, architect of the first prime ministerial
office for women in 1974, said that move was patronising.

Women's Electoral Lobby spokeswoman Sarah Maddison said she
feared for the the office, saying it had suffered severe budget
cuts in recent years.

Victorian Women's Trust executive director Mary Crooks said it
was a retrograde step that downgraded women's status within the
cabinet.

The four new department heads are:

· Joanna Hewitt, deputy secretary in the Department of
Foreign Affairs and Trade, who becomes secretary of the Department
of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

· Lisa Paul, deputy secretary in the Department of
Education, Science and Training, who becomes its secretary.

· Patricia Scott, deputy secretary in the Department of
Prime Minister and Cabinet, who will head the new Department of
Human Services.

· Lynelle Briggs, deputy secretary in the Department of
Transport and Regional Services, who becomes Public Service
Commissioner.